Fairy Tail Club
by TheFluffMaster
Summary: Relationships have hurt Lucy over her life, and she has crawled into her own sanctuary to shield herself from the harsh reality. So years later, she finds herself enrolling herself in Magnolia High School, and with a dark backstory, annoying classmates and the threat of old relationships coming back to haunt her. How will she survive?
1. Prologue

**Thank you to all you readers who have bothered to click on my little story, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a review, any type of criticism is welcomed!  
**

**If you were sharp enough to notice, I have set the story's genre to Romance/Humor, even if this prologue is pretty dark, it gets lighter later on so please bear with it!**

**Now on to the story...**

Lucy had no intention of getting into a relationship of any kind.

Nothing good had ever come out of being in one for her. She got too close to them, and she got hurt the most when she could have avoided the whole ordeal by leaving the people alone in the first place.

Whether the relationship be a parent-child on or just simple friendship, she had gotten hurt more than she could handle, or anyone else could for the matter.

The first such incident that had led her to this belief had happened to her at the tender age of seven.

Being a loner in the earlier years of grade school, could affect anyone, much less Lucy herself. Not being so outspoken, as she would have liked, she hadn't dared approach any of her classmates back then, neither did they want to approach her to start a conversation, as they had no need to. Such was the mentality of seven year old.

Having no friends to turn to for any comfort, she only had the warm embrace of her parents for any sort of relief from the harsh world of loneliness, especially her mother, Layla. Layla had been… well, to put it simply, a mother figure to Lucy.

As little sense as it had made, it was one of the many things that had kept Lucy's relationship with her alive and fresh. They had often strolled in the garden in their estate, talked over a cup of hot chocolate in the winter next to a fireplace, read books in the library together, although Lucy knew that her mother had spent those times with her knowing that she was a loner.

Time had gone by in a blur, and before Lucy could properly process the information, she had learnt that her mother had gotten cancer. Desperately trying to help her, Lucy's father Jude had hired doctors from far and wide, coming into their estate, only offering the best to help treat Lucy's mother's illness.

Alas, life was never so kind as to have things go anyone's way whenever they really wanted it to. Her mother's illness had only continued to worsen, despite doctors in white lab coats rushing in and out of their estate almost every day, sometimes carrying in vials with colourful liquids, sometimes lugging in weird hunks of machinery that they filed her mother's room.

Throughout the whole period, Lucy had never understood what was going on around her. Furiously denying the fact that her mother was sick, she had submerged the thought into the dark recesses of her mind, only making the onrush of doctors filing through her estate even more surreal and dreamlike.

The days had passed by hazily and the last few memories she had left of her were all brief and fleeting. Just a glimpse here, some brief chatter there, the days where they had taken strolls in the garden, shared stories over hot chocolate were all gone, lost in the cruel mess of memories, that were slowly slipping away from her.

The last time she had seen her mother, was on the last day of Novemeber. Seeing her mother, on her bed, after so long. She had wires taped onto her arm that connected to a huge machine that stood in the backdrop, blocking the huge window in her room and most of the sunlight.

In the dim lighting of the room, she could faintly make out her mother's outline. She had slimmed down immensely, almost bordering on a living pile of skin and bones as Lucy had so delicately put it. Her skin had paled to a faded brown, but the familiar smile that was always plastered on her face was still there.

Lucy could feel the tears silently stream down her face, seeing her mother's state deteriorate into something so bad, but she couldn't feel anything. All the pain of having to wait, the pain of seeing her father scream at doctor's about her mother's condition, had dulled out all her emotions, yet she was still crying, and she didn't know why.

Lucy stumbled forward towards her mother as she gestured for her to come. Looking around the room, she gulped. What was once a grandiose room, magnificently furnished had been reduced to an empty chamber with a single bed surrounded by clusters of machinery and her father standing by the doorway, silently watching the exchange between them.

"Lucy, I know that you've been alone in school for a long time," Layla weakly began, using her left arm to firmly hold Lucy's tiny fist.

Gulping down a lump in her throat, she bit the bottom of her lip as Lucy intently listened as her mother continued, "I know that I've been the only company that you've had."

Layla paused as she let out a ferocious cough that made Lucy back up. Lucy watched as her father stepped forward, his expression stern, but his eyes softened with worry.

Waving for him to back off, Lucy listened as her mother continued talking, "The world is vast."

Lucy patiently waited for her mother as she paused, an uneasy feeling building up in her gut, the emotions that she had bottled up finally bursting forward, pushing tears to her eyes.

Biting back a sob as she felt her mother's grip loosen a bit, she gripped her hand harder as she heard her mother say, " One day without a doubt, you'll meet your own friends that will protect you."

Letting her tears flow freely as she shook her head, willing for her mother to stop speaking as her grip on Lucy's hand slackened, her eyes softening as they started to lose their shine to them, growing dull.

"No one in this world is destined to be alone," Lucy's mother fiercely whispered, grasping her hand firmly again, a fire burning in her eyes.

Nodding shakily, Lucy weakly stumbled forward and let her legs give way, her tears pattering onto the floor, the only sound that echoed around room.

"Go find those friends of yours out there," her mother whispered, her voice growing weaker with each passing word, until her grip fully slackened, her arm falling limply by the side of the bed.

"Mommy," Lucy began, her sobs racking her tiny frame as she shook the hand, "Mommy!"

She watched as her father wrenched her free from the bed and dragged her outside, his own tears mixing into the pool of her own that had formed at her feet. Screaming for doctors down the hall to come into the room, Lucy had simply run into her room, and sit by the fireplace, grabbing her blanket, she jumped into her bed, letting her tears fall.

_"No one in this world is destined to be alone. Go find those friends of yours out there."_

The words had ringed out in her head, over and over again for the next few hours and even days. Her mother's parting words the only thing that kept her walking. That kept her breathing, that gave her the will to live.

So that was what Lucy set out to do, find friends just like her mother had wished for her to do.

Then came the second incident that had Lucy's crumbling trust in relationship fall apart even mother.

A month after the death of her mother's death, her father had moved and migrated to a neighbouring town, moving into a large estate, although quite small in comparison to their previous mansion.

Blending into the environment a new school had been surprisingly easy as Lucy, being the only child of Jude Heartphillia, the president of owner of the Heartphillia industry, had all her classmates flocking to her, without her having to even lift a finger.

Lucy's fear that she couldn't live up to the final words of her mother had subtly died down, having been placated, Lucy had comfortable settled into her new life.

With friends, above average grades and undoubtedly having won the title of teacher's pet, life had proceeded well for her for a long time. In the bleak and dark shadow that her mother's death had cast over her life, Lucy had finally glimpsed something that she had yearned for.

Hope.

Not only had she lived up to her mother's dying wish of finding the friends that she had long needed, but she felt that she had grown close to them. Going out with friends and having them come over to her house to hang out had all but become a routine in her life, and she had hoped that her father would have been proud of her like her mother would have been.

It didn't happen.

Instead her father had screamed at her one day when she had come home, even going so far as to smack her, not bothering to hold his anger or his strength back. Choking back a surprised sob, Lucy had already gotten her reply before she had asked the question.

"What are you doing with the credit card I had let you use?" her father had muttered, his voice wavering with his anger that he was trying to suppress.

Lucy flinched and recoiled, trying to back up from her father as she replied, "I-I've b-been using it to buy stuff f-for m-my friends."

Anger flashed across her father's face, his control over his anger falling apart.

"You imbecile! Don't you see that they're just using you for your money! My money!" her father shrieked, pausing to grab a fistful of a curtain trying to calm himself.

Lucy felt her heart shatter as the truth sunk in. Her friends. No. Her classmates, had always seemed quite distant anyway, but Lucy had just brushed it off as they had secrets they had wanted to keep, just like Lucy had her own secrets that she didn't want anyone else to know about. Whenever they were hanging out, their happiness had seemed a bit force, their true feelings for Lucy hidden under a mask of greed.

Nothing about their friendship was real; it was all built on lies. Ugly lies.

The familiar wave of despair washed over her again, dulling out the pain as her father had hit her across her face.

Lucy felt even more guilt jab at her heart as another memory resurfaced.

_"Hey Lucy! Could you come over for a second," her teacher, Mrs Gale, called out to her, as her classmates filed out of the room._

Quickly slinging her bag over her shoulder, Lucy stalked over to the petite teacher.

"Lucy! You know that you've been getting perfect scores on your math test recently right?" Mrs Gale had chirped, her smile hiding something that made Lucy squirm uncomfortably.

Hiding her discomfort, Lucy cheerfully nodded, proud that she had been able to produce such fine results.

"I've been putting in a good word for you with the markers of the tests, so could you do the same by putting in a good word for me to your father?" the teacher had politely ask, the thing that had made Lucy squirm finally showing itself.

Lucy fidgeted nervously, not sure why the statement had made her feel so uneasy, even though the meaning behind it had escaped her.

Seeing Lucy remain silent as an uncomfortable tension settled over the quiet classroom, Mrs Gale had promptly cleared her throat and dismissed her, a sour look donning her face as she watched Lucy scramble out of the classroom.

Lucy gulped as tears welled up in her eyes. Everything that she had worked so hard to build up: her reputation, her 'friends', and her reputation among the teachers.

Had all been lies?

Lucy fought back a loud sob that scratched at her throat, a thought pawing at the edge of her mind.

Had all her work for her mother been lies?

Lucy flinched and backed up as her father moved forward again, his am trembling in anger as she felt the sting of a slap rain down on her cheek. Wincing in pain as she feebly begged her father to stop, Lucy brought her hands up in defense.

A few tense seconds passed as Lucy whimpered, the full weight of the truth dragging her heart through a huge mix of emotions that Lucy couldn't separate. Hearing the familiar click clack of her father's shoes echo down the hallway, Lucy timidly peeked through a crack in between her arms to see her father disappear round a corner, his expression dark and his features knotted up in anger.

Thus began her third, last and most horrible experience with relationships.

Lucy had had enough. The very next day, she had gone back to school, and screamed at the lot of classmates that proclaimed to be friends, saying that she would never get close to anyone ever again, as they had all only done it for the money.

With that, Lucy had detached herself from modern society and holed up in her own little sanctuary. With no friends, and her mother gone, the only person that she could go to for comfort left was her father.

Obviously though, given their earlier conflict, she knew that getting through to him would be impossible, but being a kid with no one else to turn to, she was desperate to say the least.

Grasping at straws, Lucy had tried to get through the rough exterior of her father by warming up to him. On his birthday, she had tried to make him a rice ball, remembering that it was a snack that her mother had used to prepare for them on picnics.

Instead of accepting it, he had rudely swiped the delicacy off of his desk, leaving the snack scattered over the emerald green carpet of his study, shouting at her to study and become a person worthy of inheriting the company, rather than make useless treats like rice balls.

Lucy flinched at the memory.

She had started to notice it slowly, after her mother's death. Lucy's father had slowly sunk into his own work, being the only comfort from her mother's death. His attitude had done an about turn, from once being a rather docile and tolerant man, his temper thinned horrendously, his anger quick to show whenever anything trivial had showed up. He was also quick to resort to violence to resolve his problems, usually screaming and slapping not only her, but also the maids and butlers that served the household.

Nevertheless, she had persisted in her attempts to grow closer to the man she had come to know as her father. Lucy had tried on various occasions to invite him out to spend time with him, whether it be to go for a picnic, visit a travelling circus that had stopped by their town, or just to simply take a walk at the local park.

However, all her attempts were only sneered upon, everything she had tried to do had all been immediately shot down, and only met with a nasty retort, which usually stated for her to focus more on her studies, or find a good man to marry their family into, all for the success company that she was supposed to inherit.

To say the least, it hurt.

Having the only and last person that she could go to comfort, to share a laugh with, or just have them enjoy her company shun and berate her like that, had taken a huge chunk out of her self esteem and confidence, leaving only behind a hollow husk of what used to have been Lucy Heartphillia.

Even so, life still moved on, and somehow, Lucy had scraped enough resolve out of what remained of her life. Her attempts to get together with her father had decreased in hopes that he would have left her alone and leave talks of marrying to a successful suitor for money, and studying more out of her life, and give her some personal space that she desperately needed.

However, the more she willed to avoid such conversations with her father, the more he had come to her to pressure her into keeping up her studies, even going so far as to often bring her to meetings with his clients to try and hook her up with their sons.

She had managed to resist going to some of the gatherings at first. Even if she did go, she had mostly just exchanged polite greetings with men almost twice as old as her, as she had only begun middle school. She had tried to weave in and out of crowds, not drawing too much attention to herself as she stayed in a dark quiet corner or lounged by the entrance.

Progressively though, her father had become more desperate to set her up with someone by her second year in middle school, as a quarter of his company collapsed. He had then forced Lucy to mingle during the gatherings, usually keeping a firm eye on her movements, even resorting to pulling her aside and beating her into doing it when she had refused once.

Still, Lucy was stronger than that. Despite all the troubles that life had sent her, she had managed to cling on to her mother's final words, and with that the only thing that she had to keep her moving, she had persevered.

Taking beating after beating, scolding after scolding. She had managed to fool herself somehow into thinking it would all turn out okay.

Then the last straw came.

It had been towards the end of her third year in middle school, when she had been abruptly called to her father's study during her bath time. She had hastily donned a shirt and a pair of shorts and approached the study.

Looking at the large oak doors that dominated the end of the hallway and gulped, an unsettling feeling squirming in her gut. Lucy still pushed the door open anyway, rather face her father than have him beat or scold her.

Wincing as the door creaked, signaling her arrival. Peeking into the study, she found her father seating at the desk, his back to the window which had curtains drawn over, making the only source of light in the room the little sunlight that managed to stream through it.

"Lucy, I have found a suitable suitor for you. A young named Sting Eucliffe, from the Eucliffe industries. Do not worry about his age, even though he is the successor to their company, he is around the same age as you."

"But daddy, I don't want to marry someone I barely even know. I want to meet the person and fall in love," Lucy replied hesitantly.

"I have already signed the documents for the transfer. You will be moving in to their estate in Magnolia by the start of your first year in high school. You'll also have plenty of time to fall in love when you live together under the same roof," her father replied promptly, traces of impatience creeping into his voice, making Lucy wince at back down.

"But daddy-"

"Enough! You are my daughter! You will do as I say! I would let you do what you want if you weren't so useless! So for now, you are just a tool for me to use!" her father spat, releasing his anger.

Lucy felt the last bits of her heart break, stretched beyond the limit. That was all she was to her father?

A tool?

She was born of his and her mother's blood, love and dedication, and this was all she was to him? Swallowing down a sob, she clutched at the edge of her skirt and chewed viciously at her lip, biting back a scream.

Giving a strangled noise as a form acknowledgement, Lucy quickly exited the study wordlessly. She rushed past the small crowd of servants that had gathered outside the study, only nodding as a sign of thank you when they had reached out worriedly to her.

Safe in the lonely confines of her room as she slammed the door shut, she collapsed soundlessly. Sobs racking her frame, as no tears fell, having all been used up long ago. Lucy continued to cry, letting her emotions that welled up over the years rush out in a huge wave.

Lucy had no idea how long she had been lying on her floor.

"At least the cold floor had provided more comfort than my father ever could," Lucy joked humorlessly to herself.

Rolling over onto her back she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to do something to take her mind of the revelation. She had no freedom, no friends… in fact she didn't really have anything left now that she thought about it.

Like a bird in a cage.

Chuckling darkly at the tasteless analogy, Lucy shakily got up, an emotion burning in her gut, fueling her will. Stumbling to her closet, Lucy swung open the large door and rummaged through piles of clothes that she had barely used until she found two large bags that were hidden under a few pair of jeans.

Dragging the two of them out, she set them out onto the floor, and carefully double-checked that she had locked her door. Zipping the huge trunk open while pushing the large rucksack aside, she grinned, the dreadful feeling quickly being replaced by a more light and bubbly one.

Looking at the piles of clothes and other essentials that she had carefully squeezed into the tiny trunk, she grinned as she poked at the articles of clothing.

In days where she had been locked up in the weekends, especially after the incident where her friends had tricked her, she had a sneaking suspicion that her father may one day go too far in scolding her, so she had prepared two bags where she had packed her clothes, and other essentials like shampoo or toothpaste.

Over the few years that her father's attitude had taken a horrendous change, preparing the bag had become a weekly ritual for her; a small break from the harsh reality that was her life. She had escaped into her thoughts, about where she would have gone, should she have seriously run away.

Bustling cities, rural countryside, maybe even camping out in dense jungles, all of them wild fantasies that had spurred her on in the dull life that she had to lead.

Zipping the huge trunk as she suppressed a giggle, she pushed it aside and grabbed the rucksack and opened the zip. Rummaging around, she fingered a small chest that held onto letters that she had written to her mother whenever she had doubts in her life.

Letting her eyes graze over a small notebook that settled cozily at the end of her backpack, that held the first few chapters of a story that she had been working on recently, Lucy grinned, happiness surging forth in the back of her mind, blocking out the spite that had infested in her mind over the years.

Poking at four bags that held four years of savings, that added to twice as much a normal worker could earn in a few years.

Guess being wealthy had come in useful after all. Closing the bag, she looked determinedly out her window.

She was ready to sneak out.

Sneaking out had been easy. Her father usually cooped himself up in his office and rarely called on her. Most of the servants usually had dinner together in a large hall near their quarters in the basement, so she hadn't run into any of them.

Before Lucy had made her escape, she had taken the liberty of leaving a note especially for her daddy dearest. She had stated in the letter that she would had run away from her marriage, and that she would have been moving to Hargeon, a port town far to the west of their town, to get away from him and take a boat to somewhere else.

When in actual fact she would have been running toward Magnolia that was to the east of their estate. Despite it being the place where her supposed fiancée was supposed to reside, she had chosen that place specifically for two reasons.

Exactly because that was where her fiancée, Sting, was supposed to reside, it would be the last place that he would have looked for her. Secondly, it was the town, where her mother had given birth to her and raised her, before her death.

Rushing out the backdoor undetected, Lucy rushed outside, and shivered excitedly as the cool air rushed out to greet her. Lugging on the large rucksack and dragging the heavy trunk behind her, she stealthily made her way to the back gate of the garden and snuck out.

There was no turning back

It had been a week since Lucy had run away and she had managed to successfully made it to Magnolia without any problem. She had stayed her first night in a small motel called Lamia Scale before taking to finding a nice apartment.

She had found a nice and cozy apartment just a ten minute walk from a nearby school and was close to a shopping mall making it more convenient for her. Although the landlady had looked somewhat skeptical into renting out an apartment to a lone little girl, she relented anyway, saying that she was fine with any tenant as long as they didn't disturb the neighbors and could pay the rent.

It had taken a huge blow to the amount of cash that she taken with her, but she had enough money to keep going for at least two more months without a job.

Next, she had enrolled into the local school that was fortunately located near her apartment.

Magnolia High School.

The town's most wicked school that was said to have churned out delinquents at a rate of 120%. Earning a notorious reputation for themselves after a huge incident that happened five years ago, Lucy had reluctantly applied herself there for her first year in high school, although, it would seem unlikely that a rich heiress like herself would enroll in such a place. More of a reason to enroll there should her father come looking for her.

Lastly, she had gotten round to getting a few jobs for herself, knowing fully well that she couldn't rely on the tiny sum of money that she had saved for herself forever.

She had managed to secure a job at a local bookstore that was owned by a petite woman with wavy blue locks that went by the name of Caroline Mcgarden, who also had a daughter who was her age. Other than that, Lucy had managed to secure another part time job at a small restaurant, as an errand girl, and as someone who cleaned up the kitchen and dirty dishes.

"At least the manager was kind enough to let me take home leftovers," Lucy sighed inwardly.

Time in her new life had flown faster compared than the dull aristocratic one she had led previously, and before she knew it, it had been the day before her first day in her new high school.

Despite it being a delinquent school, the students still followed the dress code impeccably as she had checked once when she passed by the school. The school campus was also deceptively clean and the attitudes of the students as she walked past were scarily polite.

Not much of a delinquent school.

Nevertheless, she still had to keep a low profile. No one must know who she is, or was. She had to take her burden alone, and no one must suffer like she did.

Those were the only thoughts that weighed on her mind as she looked at the huge campus from outside. Gulping as she gripped her rucksack that carried books and stationery instead of money and clothes, she looked around as a steady stream of students filed into the school on the first day.

Sweeping her gaze around the stream of students that filed into the school, Lucy gulped and ducked her head further as a pair of obnoxiously loud students passed by her.

Not wanting to stay outside for long, Lucy stepped inside.

**So that's the prologue!**

**I'll be introducing the rest of the cast next story, so do look forward to it, and thank you again for clicking on this story. Do check out my other stories, for those of you who liked this.**

**Also... Happy New Year!**

**-Fluff Master**


	2. New Start, New Life, New Love?

**Hello beloved readers~**

Second chapter's in earlier than I expected because school has just started, so you're welcome! A special shout out to Rose Tiger, akisemidori and chubbybunny26 for reviewing the prologue and for not only them but all you readers who took your time to read this story THANK YOU and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a review.

I forgot to mention also, but did anyone spot the two major references from One Piece and Beelzebub in the last chapter? Now to stop my rambling.

**Now here's the story...**

Lucy looked as she followed the huge mass of students rush into the school.

She had tried to conceal her platinum blond hair by wearing a hoodie despite the rather warm weather for spring rolled by over her uniform, making her perspire slightly, but glancing around, she could see mops of blue, pink and green hair bobbing from somewhere along the crowd.

Chuckling lightly to herself, Lucy casually pulled her hood down. Guess trying not to stand out might not be so difficult with people's hair colour like that. Following the crowd of supposed delinquents, she reached the rather spacious hall, and skeptically entered, her nerves scared of what was coming.

Glancing around, she stared wondrously at the hall, seats taking up most of the space in the center of the hall. A large stage dominated the front of the hall, with podium in the middle flanked by pots of flowers as decoration. Glancing at the top, she noticed a large banner that had neatly scrawled words onto it, welcoming the first years.

Frowning at how orderly the whole event seemed for a school supposedly filled with delinquents, Lucy nodded as a teacher directed her to the front of the hall where first years were supposed to be seated. Letting her feet guide her while she looked around, taking in more of the environment.

Stopping at the third row, she shuffled into one of the seats as two other students plopped herself beside her. Looking at both her sides, she noticed that the girl on her left had flowing scarlet hair that cascaded past her shoulders. Her uniform primly put on, yet still accentuating her bountiful curves.

Shrinking back a bit as she met the stern gaze of the woman, she averted her own gaze, but saw at the corner of her eye, a hurt look flash across the girl's expression and was tempted to turn back but stopped herself.

Lucy felt a jab of spite hit her chest as memories of her previous friends surged forth. Wincing as the torrent of memories slammed into her, she turned around only to meet the gaze of the other girl.

Her wavy blue locks rested comfortably on her shoulder, with a simple orange hairband that rested on top of her head. Looking at her petite figure, she couldn't help but notice that she had a hefty book by her side.

"Hi! I'm Levy! Nice to meet you! What's your name? I haven't seen you around Magnolia," the girl cheerily asked.

Hesitantly glancing at the girl who she supposed was Levy, Lucy forced a smile and quickly replied that her name was Lucy and that her family had moved into town recently.

"Really? Do you like books? I'm reading Hamlet currently, for the third time! I hope that we'll get to know each other better," Levy burst out, a smile etched tightly onto her face.

Recoiling slightly at the outburst, Lucy shifter nervously in her seat, but started to smile back, as Levy continued bouncing in her seat, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"Levy! Keep quiet! The principal is about to speak!" the scarlet haired girl beside her hissed, before continuing as Levy turned around sheepishly, "I'm Erza Scarlet by the way. I'm sorry if I scared you just now, people say I'm pretty scary. I heard you were Lucy Heartphillia just now, and I'm sorry I eavesdropped on you conversation. Can we continue later?"

Nodding wordlessly, Lucy stared somewhat stunned at the soft personality that the scarlet-haired woman seemed to have under her stern and tough exterior. Turning her attention to the front, she watched as a short and tiny man walk onto the center of the stage.

Looking at him, he had a white bushy moustache, his head almost clear of hair, except for two huge streaks of white hair that ran along the side of his head. He wore a casual white t-shirt with an orange hoodie over it, and a pair of orange shorts that went with his hoodie, along with a pair of large shoes that made his total appearance look like a joke.

Looking at the tiny man approach the podium as he confidently strode out on stage, Lucy watched as he disappeared behind the podium, dwarfed by the height of it. Several moments passed silently until she noticed a tuft of white hair and skin bob up from the edge of the podium before disappearing below again.

Watching silently, she thought to herself, feeling a giggle trying to escape from her mouth, "Is he seriously that short, that he can't even reach the top of the podium."

Shifting her gaze to the two girls beside her, both of them had completely stoic expressions, patiently waiting for the man to start speaking. Gulping down the chuckle, she watched as a woman in the school uniform with flowing white hair rushed out onto the stage with a stool and set it behind the podium, as the man jumped onto it.

Bowing apologetically to the audience, the woman quickly exited the stage, as the man cleared his throat, brushing off his embarrassment evident from the light pink that dusted his cheeks.

"Welcome back brats, to another school year here at Magnolia High School. I, you principal, Makarov and all the other teachers here welcome you back. There isn't really much for me to say, except to stay out of the way of Sabertooth Academy," the principal, Mr Makarov started, but as soon as he muttered the name of 'Sabertooth Academy', she could immediately see the crowd of students visibly flinch.

Looking around her, Lucy watched questioningly at the crowd of students, and when she flashed a look at Erza, she felt a message pass through the both of them as she met her stern gaze.

Don't ask.

Lucy nodded firmly. They had their secrets she had hers. She guessed that it was fair that they got to hide some things from her. Looking at the principal again, he seemed rather unfazed by the crowd's reaction, but something flickered in his eyes along the lines of sympathy.

Pausing slightly to give the students a chance to regain their composure, he glanced around the hall, the air thick with tension that dripped uncomfortably making Lucy wince.

Clearing his throat again, Makarov got the attention of the crowd again, despite the awkward atmosphere, "I don't really have anything else to say, except for all of you to have a good year, and a good time here! Now to pass on the microphone to our student council president, Laxus Dreyar to say a few words."

Bowing lowly from his position on the podium, the tiny man flashed a smile at them and jumped down from the podium, completely forgetting about the stool and landed flat on his face.

Lucy heard somewhere from the row in front someone snigger and burst into laughter, as she saw a mop of pink hair bob up and down. Trying to maintain her calm expression, Lucy struggled to contain her own giggles, but immediately shoved it back down her throat, as she felt Erza's glare murderously at the mop of pink hair, an emotion bordering on that of bloodlust dancing across her features.

Just on cue, the laughter immediately cut off, and the mop of pink hair, sank back down among the crowd as Makarov silently got up and pointed the middle finger at the person who had laughed and grumpily stalked off the stage, passing by a tall figure with shocking yellow hair, a pair of headphones that hung loosely by his neck, and a scar like lightning that ran through right eye.

Despite being dubbed the student council president, his attire was sloppily worn. The top of his uniform was only half tucked in, and his tie hung like an oversized noose around his neck. His pants were rather short, stopping before his ankles, and he wore no socks in his sneakers.

"An exact opposite of Erza," Lucy observed amusedly, "Although, this _is a _delinquent school, if anything Erza is the odd one out."

Casting a sideways glance at the redhead, she noticed an expression of disgust flit across her face, probably at the man's attire, but it quickly passed and melted away into a stoic expression. However Lucy could still make out a look of admiration and respect that sparkled in Erza's eyes as she stared at the man walk on stage.

Grunting as he approached the stage, the man, Laxus, cleared his throat, and let his gaze sweep through the crowd of students.

"Hi," Laxus began curtly, which earned him a murmur of laughter throughout the crowd, and Lucy swore that she heard someone shout of for Laxus to fight him.

Lucy couldn't help but smile along with the crowd, as a large smile broke out on the man's face while he continued, "We're back for another year here in Magnolia High! We're in for another crazy year this time, I can feel it! Now all you squirts just go out there and have some fun!"

Lucy reeled back, as a deafening roar came as a reply from the crowd, and she watched as even some of the teachers joined in. Looking up again, she watched as Laxus walked off the stage, the woman with the flowing white hair sighing exasperatedly as she took her place at the podium.

"Thank you Laxus, for those… inspiring words. Now to introduce the rest of the student council members, and a few more announcements after that," the woman announced, her face bearing an annoyed expression.

The rest of the assembly had been fairly simple. The rest of the student council first had introduced themselves. The woman with the flowing white hair was the vice-president of the student council, and was also called Mirajane.

The secretary of the student council was a shy girl, with cute pink locks that went by Aries. Lastly, the treasurer of the student council was a man with spiky orange hair, and wore shades even though he was inside, and went by the name of Loki.

After the student council had quickly introduced themselves, the president, Laxus had come on stage to announce that the the last day of the week would be a half day as there would be an event where clubs would advertise themselves for the first years, in the meantime, they were free to go home after lessons immediately.

Lucy listened half-heartedly as Laxus went on to describe how the event would take place. Lucy stared around the already familiar hall and looked to see that only half an hour had past.

She sighed.

Laxus' explanation had only taken another ten minutes, where he said that each class were to be divided into groups and then they would explore the campus together and reassemble at their classes, take the form from their teachers that decided their club and hand it in the next week.

After that, he lazily dismissed the third and second years students to their classes first, before directing the first years to a few billboards by the back that would state their class.

Watching silently as an onrush of students charged up to the billboard, she saw Erza gesture for Lucy to get up and join her.

"Don't you want to wait for everyone to clear up first?" Lucy asked, frowning at Erza and Levy who were getting off their seats already.

"If we get to see our classes first, we can go there and pick our seats first," Erza replied simply, before stalking off with Levy.

Blinking silently, Lucy mechanically got up from her seat and dashed towards the billboard.

"Why didn't you say so!"

Lucy sighed as she clutched her rucksack tightly.

She had lost sight of Erza and Levy in the crowd as soon as she got close, not that she wanted to get to know them anyway. Lucy had managed to push her way through and check her class, but by the time she had turned around to rush to class and pick a spot in the back, more the half the group were already dashing out the hall.

1-B.

Not that her class mattered. She had already resolutely decided that friends were a huge no-no, even before she had entered the school, and all she had to do was ace classes, save up for university or become a writer.

Pretty simple.

Lucy turned a left at a sign that had indicated where the first year classrooms were, racing past an unsuspecting teacher, who dodged out of the way in time. Shouting a hasty apology back, she screeched to a halt outside her class and pushed the door open.

Lucy took deep breaths to steady her breathing, and looked into the class, only to see everyone inside staring at her. Stunned at the class's reaction, she stood rooted to the spot, unsure of how to proceed from there.

"Hey Lucy! We saved you a spot!" she heard someone from the back of the class shout.

Turning her gaze, she immediately found a small tuft of blue hair bobbing up and down behind the familiar figure of Erza, who just simply smiled and waved at her to come over.

Smiling sheepishly at the rest of the class, she made her way towards the back of the class, and sat down on her seat, which was situated two seats away from the window.

"Lucy! You're so late! You're one of the last ones to get here! Luckily we saw your name before we exited and when we noticed you were in the same class, we decided to save you a spot!" Levy squeaked excitedly, the large book that she had with her propped nicely on the desk beside hers.

Smiling thankfully, Lucy felt her heart warm at their kindness, but immediately tried to shrug it off.

No friends. No friends. No friends.

Lucy shut her eyes and chanted it to herself, she couldn't allow a repeat of what had happened the other time. Even if her father wasn't there to beat her for it, she couldn't make such superficial friends. Not again.

Forcing a smile that Lucy was sure seemed awkward, she glanced at Erza who wordlessly only grinned in reply. Unsure of how to follow up, Lucy just continued staring at her two companions, until an air of awkwardness started to hang around the group, and neither of them wanted to leave suddenly and seem rude.

Desperate to ease the tension, Lucy stuttered, "H-Hey, Erza, Levy, you guys seem pretty close, how'd you get to know each other."

"Well, Levy and I as well as some other friends have known each other since grade school, although some of our friends, we only came to know about in middle school," Erza explained, a nostalgic glint passing through her eyes before fading away.

Lucy winced at Erza's explanation.

"Must be nice to have friends like that, are you sure they're real friends?" Lucy almost blurted out but bit back her tongue, not wanting to seem rude.

Levy nodded enthusiastically, happy enough to be rid of the awkward tension, "Yeah! There are a bunch of us together! There's Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Erza's boyfriend, Jellal-"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Erza interrupted, screaming, her face flaming red.

Levy just rolled her eyes, and continued, "Cana, Juvia, Wendy, Natsu's little sister, Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, Loki, his girlfriend, Aries, Jet and Droy. I guess that's it."

Frowning at the number of people on the list, she simply just shrugged it off, and sighed inwardly. Lucy wondered if the people that Levy had listed were 'real' friends, not that she had any experience as to say what was and what wasn't, but she still wished she had some friends that she could really count on.

Not wanting to show them any of her discomfort, Lucy continued to ask, "So where are these friends of yours? I know who Mirajane and Loki are, because they introduced themselves, or are they in another school?"

"No, the guys are a bunch of idiots, so they're probably goofing off somewhere, but I heard that Natsu, Gray and Gajeel are in our class," Erza said, her face having cooled off already.

"G-Gajeel's in our class?" Levy asked, her face dusting a light pink.

"Yes… Don't tell me you like him?" Erza teased, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively to try and add on to her humiliation.

"No!" Levy screamed, making everyone in the class turn her attention to her.

Smiling sheepishly at the rest of the class, she waved off their stares, and pouted at Erza who looked hysterical, as she barely controlled her laughter. Feeling a smile crack on her own face, Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at Levy's reaction.

Quickly turning her head as she watched as a man that looked like he was in his late forties, stroll into the room and take his place in front of the teacher's desk. Hearing the shuffling of feet and scraping of chairs, the class quickly rushed into their own seats as the man yawned and looked at the class.

He had ginger red hair, and looked fairly muscular, although Lucy couldn't tell as he wore a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans.

Lucy watched the man yawn again, and finally said, "Good morning class, I am Mr Gildarts Clive, but you can just call me Gildar-"

"Sorry we're late!"

Lucy quickly diverted her gaze away from the teacher, to the front door, as it slammed open, revealing a guy who looked sloppily dressed and most certainly beat up.

But what caught Lucy's attention most was the mop of pink hair that sat comfortably on his head and the white scarf that was wrapped neatly around his neck. She watched wordlessly as pink hair, as she had dubbed him, strolled casually into class and simply waved at the teacher, with two other guys behind him.

The second guy that had strolled in, had spiky black hair, but he only had his pants on, revealing his somewhat muscular body. Gagging at his appearance, Lucy's face dusted a light pink, and diverted her attention to the last guy, who's hair that feel down in spiky waves all the way until his waist, and had multiple piercings all over his face, only adding to this thuggish look with his harsh scowl.

So this was where the delinquents were hiding. It would seem awkward if Magnolia High School was dubbed as one holding delinquents if they were only holding people like Levy and Erza.

Gildarts however just glared half-heartedly at them and told the shirtless one, who he called Gray, to grab his shirt. With most of the seats taken up, the guy with a lot of piercings, sat at the other side of the room, in the corner, while the shirtless guy went out of the classroom, muttering under his breath.

The guy with pink hair looked at Gajeel enviously, as though he had wanted to sit there and watched him scan the room slowly, while Gildarts rub the bridge of his nose exasperatedly as Gray had returned to class, this time with his shirt on, but with no pants.

"Gray! Come back here once you've only fully dressed!" Gildarts barked, "Natsu, there are only a few seats left! Pick one already!"

Flinching, the two guys immediately rushed to the tasks they were assigned to, as Gray rushed out of the of the room again, leaving behind a trail of curses, while Natsu just jumped and ran to a seat.

Which happened to be in front of her.

Groaning silently, she waited for few moments passed by, until Gray immediately returned fully clothed and wearing a sheepish smile. Taking his seat at the one in front, he slumped down, as Gildarts looked sourly at the three latecomers and sighed before continuing.

"Luckily, we still have enough time for an introduction from all of you, as we'll be stuck in the same class for the rest of the year, I really want you guys to bond," Gildarts calmly continued, "Let's start from the front then."

Lucy listened half-heartedly to the introductions of the other students, occasionally hearing something that piqued her interest, but she passed over it, not really wanting to hear it, in case it made her want to make… friends with the person.

Other times though, she heard a few names that Levy and Erza had mentioned they were friends with, like Gray, Natsu, Elfman and Loki.

"Lucy Heartphillia," she heard a distant voice say, yawning at it, she continued her daydream.

"Lucy Heartphillia," the voice shouted louder this time.

Jumping at the sound, she leaped out of her seat, startled at the sudden use of her name, and leaned forward towards the voice, only to have her chest collide with something soft.

Looking past herself, she found the person who had introduced himself as Natsu, had his face buried in between her bosom. Lucy had refrained from trying to slap him, since it had been accident and had simply stepped back, trying to ignore her raging blush and teasing stares that she got from all around her, even Gildarts had joined in.

Lucy simply shrugged it off and tried to continue, despite her embarrassment but Natsu had cut in before her and said something else.

"You look really cute you know that? I'm Natsu Dragneel, and would you like to be my girlfriend?" Natsu asked, a wide smile plastered onto his face as leaned back on his chair.

Choking back her sentence, Lucy stared bewildered at the pink-haired idiot in front of her.

"Excuse me?" Lucy managed to choke out, as she tried to fight a raging blush from spreading on her face.

"You heard me," Natsu said, now standing to his full height as he towered over her by a full head, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Lucy gulped heavily as an image of her cuddling next to Natsu flooded her mind, drowning out all her other thoughts.

"Natsu! Sit down, Ms Heartphillia has just moved to Magnolia, at least try to make her stay easier," Gildarts scolded, but his tone carried a hint of amusement, not giving much comfort to Lucy even though he got Natsu to stop.

Natsu simply flashed her a smile, and sat back down, his back to her.

Staring dazed at the rest of the class, that had watched the event unfold in stunned silence, she finally found her voice and continued, "Hi… I'm Lucy Heartphillia, as Mr Gildarts has already introduced. I moved here from a city quite near here called Marth, although I have lived here once when I was younger."

Upon finishing her introduction, she saw Natsu clap loudly in front of her by himself, and Lucy mechanically sat down, as she banged her head softly onto the edge of her desk.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

Lucy rushed past the hallways, a storm of thoughts swirling in her head. As soon as class had ended for lunch, she had rushed out off class, not wanting to confront Erza, Levy and especially not Natsu.

The rest of the lesson had passed by in a blur of Lucy, which had been ironic as it was torture for Lucy to sit behind Natsu, have two girls beside her tease her for the scene that he had created and that she had no part in. She hadn't really bothered to memorise any of her classmate's names.

Although she most likely would have to work with some of her classmates at a later point in time, she didn't need to know their names now. It was too much of a hassle, especially with the situation that Natsu had created for her, and she was sure that word would get around soon enough that the incident happened.

Letting her feet take her to who knows where, Lucy mechanically turned a left and walked up the stairs, the thought of ditching class popping into her head, and she was sure that no one would mind, given the fact that it was a delinquent school.

Slowly reaching to a stop as she reached the door that led to roof. Sighing exasperatedly, she pushed it open, as her appetite for lunch had gone away along with the rest of her sanity.

Moving to a corner of the roof that was shaded by the small structure that held the staircase, Lucy plopped herself down, fatigue washing over her. Placing her backpack against the wall, she leaned against it, using it as a pillow.

"Just a few minutes…" Lucy yawned, desperate for any sort of relief from the turmoil of daily life.

Lucy lay back down onto her bag, letting the cool wind flirt with her blonde locks and lull her slowly to sleep.

Lucy rolled over to her side, and snuggled in closely to her pillow, breathing in the sweet smell of cinnamon.

Cinnamon?

Snapping her eyes open, Lucy jumped up, the thought of her oven burning flashing as she looked into the direction of her kitchen in the apartment, when she finally remembered that she wasn't even at home.

Jerking up from her position, she awoke to find the familiar scene of the rooftop greet her. Rummaging into her pocket, she fished out her phone that she had changed her number with.

"Oh god, I've missed three periods," Lucy groaned, taking a peek at the time on her phone.

Finally deciding that going back in the middle class suddenly after three periods would have been a terrible idea, Lucy lay back down on her pillow, not before noticing a flash of pink.

Straightening her back, she scowled, as she saw the face of Natsu, soundly asleep. Glaring at the sleeping pinkette, her scowled deepened as she realized that she had been using his lap as a pillow the whole while.

At least it was comfortable.

Lucy gagged as a small part of her brain spoke up from the dark recesses of her mind. Pushing the thought away, she felt a small anger build up inside of her, not only at herself for thinking something so absurd, but also at Natsu for having disturbed her perfectly peaceful sanctuary that she had built around herself.

Snarling, she raised an arm and got ready to shove him awake when she found a note taped comically to his ear. Choking down a giggle, not wanting to seem off character even though he was asleep. Carefully taking down the note that had badly scrawled handwriting, she read it over, only finding tears stream down her face as she read it.

_Hey Lucy, you're sleeping now, so I'll write this note in case you wake up earlier than me._

I noticed that you weren't in class after break, so I decided to look for you, and I kinda knew you'd be in the roof since it's where I go to clear my head. Erza and Levy were really worried about you, and even if Erza was super angry with you skipping class, I guess it was my fault that you were the way you were when you rushed out of class.

I'm sorry.

So I came to look for you because I was really worried and I found you asleep. You seemed really uncomfortable lying on the ground with your bag as a pillow, so I lent you my lap, and I'm sorry if you find it a bit too close, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.

I'm also really serious about you becoming my girlfriend, and Erza and Levy tell me that they really want to become friends with you, because you had seemed quite distant. If you want to know why, I guess it's because you've experienced something bad in your past, like all the rest in our group. It was in your eyes, a hurt that I've seen before, so I'm not really sure.

You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but we've all been through something bad, and I find it's easier to handle the burden with friends.

Listen to me ramble… But I've lent you my scarf to keep you warm when you sleep, and please do return it.

Love,  
Natsu

Lucy sniffled as she finished reading the letter. Reading it had made her feel warm, like she belonged with them. Natsu had talked so fondly about her and his friends, that it made her feel like she had already been a part of them and that made her feel something that she though she'd have never see again.

Lucy felt happy.

Practically alone in the world, she had been led to believe that she would forever have been forced down into the dark underbelly of society, but these people, who she barely knew had so graciously held out a hand for her.

Still though, she was reluctant to reach out and grab it. Lucy didn't want to get hurt again, in fact no one would, but having seen a light in the dull and bleak life that she been forced to lead, had been too good to be true.

Fingering the scarf, that she let her tears silently drip onto it as a shaky smile slowly formed on her lips.

Wiping away the streams of tears that silently dripped onto Natsu's scarf, she silently hiccupped and let loose a shaky smile.

"So you like me? I can't say I really like you. You're loud, you're rude and you're annoying," Lucy weakly began, still struggling to find her voice after crying.

As if he had heard her, Natsu shifted uncomfortably and frowned slightly.

Giggling gently at his reaction, Lucy continued, "I don't really want to be involved with friends just yet. I had my bad experiences with them, but you seem like you really care. So for that, I guess I like you, but only by one percent."

Lucy smiled, and leaned in, lightly pecking Natsu's cheek. She silently giggled to herself as Natsu's frown immediately eased up and let a smile grace her lips. Clutching the scarf closely to her, she sighed contentedly as she felt another breeze blow in, calming down her senses and lulling her into sleep again as she lay down on Natsu's lap.

Cracking one eye open, Natsu smiled.

**That's the first official chapter of my story. I know I said that I'd be introducing the gang in this chapter, but I'll properly be doing so the next one, so I'm sorry if you're disappointed.**

**THANK YOU once again for clicking this story, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a review.**

**-Fluff Master**


	3. The Start To Hell

**THANK YOU to all who have clicked this story, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do leave a review, it would really help.**

**Sorry to all of you who have been waiting for this new chapter. I know it's been exactly a week, and that's the rate I intend to update my chapters, but I'm sorry if the wait did feel quite long.**

**Now on to the story...**

Lucy stirred as the day's events hazily reentered her mind.

Groggily blinking, Lucy tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes and got up, the events leading up to where she was somewhat hazy, but she knew that she was safe. Slowly, Lucy tried to get up, her surroundings still unfamiliar as sleep fogged up her memory, when she felt something press down on her head and push her down onto something cushy.

Mentally scratching her head, Lucy growled as a single word popped into her mind.

"Natsu," Lucy groaned exasperatedly.

Hearing his familiar laughter, Lucy loosened up and tried to cover her face, as the memory of what she did to Natsu when he was asleep resurfaced. Stretching, she recalled the events that had led up to her camping out on the rooftop.

"Ah! Lessons!" Lucy started, alarm flooding her system.

Natsu chuckled and pushed her back down onto his lap again, this time more gently.

"It's okay, just keep sleeping. We've skipped five periods, so lunch is next. We can just go back to class after lunch," Natsu happily replied, happily grinning.

Shrugging off the light blush that dusted her cheeks, Lucy huffed out and asked, her head resting comfortably on Natsu's lap, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

She watched as Natsu burst into laughter, and Lucy's blush returned, before Natsu replied, "It's just that, you were sleeping so soundly, and that you looked really cute like that."

Feeling her face blush a mad red, she turned around, trying to play it off, and found a dark wave emotions rise up again. Cringing as she recalled her past relationships, she felt her blush immediately die down, and her stomach churn uncomfortably.

Sure, Natsu, Erza and Levy had been nice to her on the first day of school, and they hadn't known who she really was, so them flocking to her for money would have been out of the question. Even so, that didn't mean they had other reasons for doing so, maybe they had just wanted to get close to her then toss her aside, or even use peer pressure to her force her to do drugs and drink underage.

Feeling her heart sink as more possibilities clogged her mind, she felt a lump form in her throat and she found tears welling up in her eyes, her emotions pushing them forward no matter how hard she tried to blink them back.

Lucy bit her lip and scrunched her eyes tightly.

"Not again, not again. I can't go through that again," she whimpered silently in her thoughts.

"Hey Luce, don't worry I don't bite. Why are you closing your eyes like that?" Natsu laughed.

Forcing her eyes open, she tried to glare at Natsu, only to be met with his wide grin as he silently hummed an unknown tune. Listening lightly to his soft humming, she felt her worries slowly ebb away, and the more she thought about it, the more she found that finding Natsu, Erza and Levy doing the horrible things she had thought of to her more unlikely.

Feeling her heart calm down slightly, she sighed somewhat contentedly and lay back down onto Natsu's lap, timidly clutching at his scarf that kept her warm. Lazily draping an arm over her eyes, she calmly stared overhead at the sky, letting the gentle passing of a breeze from time to time, be the only noise.

"The weather is really good today… I supposed, in the past, I would never have considered skipping lessons. Being under the strict teachings of my father, if he ever caught wind of me doing something like that, I'd probably have been hung for it," Lucy thought, her eyes straying from the blue sky occasionally to Natsu's peaceful look.

Blushing slightly, she continued staring at the sky, random thoughts drifting in and out of her mind, "When was the last time since I had seen the sky so blue."

Going in and out of school and gatherings with her father, the last time she remembered having peacefully just lie down and stare at the sky had last been with her mother. Even on weekends when she was free, she had been too scared to go out into her garden without her father's permission as she never knew if such a trivial matter would send his temper over the edge at it usually did.

Lucy smiled and contentedly shut her eyes as she heard the cheerful chirping of birds as they passed overhead and the soft rustling of leaves as a light breeze passed over. The sounds that had all become obsolete in her life, that she had been forced to throw away, had never seemed so relaxing as it had.

"Hey Lucy. Why do you seem so distant with us? Is there a particular reason?" Natsu started, his face donning a genuine concerned expression.

Lucy winced and hesitated, the peaceful moment immediately turning sour, as she bit the bottom of her lip, unsure of how to answer Natsu's question. Natsu just smiled down, and looked away, signaling that he was fine if she didn't answer, and prompted for her to ask questions instead.

Smiling gratefully, she turned around such that her back was facing Natsu and asked timidly, "Hey Natsu, you said that all of you have your own pasts in your note. I know it's rude of me to ask, because I'm not telling you mine, but would you mind if you told me all of yours?"

There was a small pause, before Natsu started, his voice softer than his usual loud and rambunctious self, "Well, when I was eight, my father and mother abandoned Wendy and I."

Lucy winced, as memories of her mother and father flashed in her mind. Both of them having left her, while her father may not be physically away, his lack of presence in her life had made it seem so.

"So now, I take a few part time jobs to support both Wendy and I, and we live in a nice apartment somewhere near here. Luckily, Gildarts, who is Cana's father, has a friend who's a property agent, so we managed to get it cheap." Natsu continued, his voice still soft, "Gray, the stripper guy in the morning, had his house and parents destroyed in a typhoon, so he and his adopted brother, Lyon went under the care of a woman called Ur, but she was murdered one night. However she also had a daughter, Ultear, who I don't really know very well, but she's in class 2A."

Lucy choked back a sob of sympathy. She knew that Natsu had a lot of friends, but having all of them have pasts like this was just unbearable, and she wondered if having friends, like Natsu had said had helped them move on.

"Then there's Gajeel the guy with a lot of piercings this morning, and Juvia. Gajeel had his father bail out on him, and Juvia was left at an orphanage one day. So both of them had gone to Phantom Middle School, and were involved in fights and underage drinking, and were caught by the police when they attended a gathering. Luckily they were left with a warning from the police instead of getting into trouble, while some of their other friends were arrested for dealing with drugs, and they've been with us ever since they moved to Magnolia Middle School." Natsu continued, and Lucy felt his muscles loosen up a little bit as he continued talking.

"Erza and Jellal were kidnapped from their homes, when they were younger, and were sold as slaves to a company that used them for manual labour to mine in the middle of no where. But they managed to break out, and they escaped here," Natsu continued, and Lucy gagged on air, unsure of how to respond to something so remorse.

Being sold for manual labour?

That was worse than whatever she had gone through. At least she still had a certain level of comfort, being in a house and had money to spend on her own.

Gulping down her saliva, she listened as Natsu paused, before she felt a hand gently stroke her hair and she heard him laugh, "Lucy, don't need to cry. It's all over, there's nothing you can do about it anyway. Now, Levy, your dear friend, had a drunkard dad who used to beat her and her mother. So her mother divorced her dad, but he came back with a gun one day up to the place where she had moved and tried to break in. Luckily, the neighbours found out and called the police in time."

Lucy tensed up considerably as she heard Natsu talk about Levy's abusive father and felt her heart go out to the petite girl, but stopped herself, as she didn't want to get involved with friends just yet. Pushing back the thoughts and sympathy, she shifted her weight and waited for Natsu to continue.

"Laxus' dad had been part of several major crimes, and had even been convicted of murder once, so he was sent to jail, so now Gramps takes care of him," Natsu continued, while he absentmindedly stroked her hair.

Relaxing into his grip as Natsu continued to stroke her hair gently, Lucy asked, "Gramps?"

"Our principal."

Frowning as she tried to link the tall and muscular thug to the short and tiny man who she came to know as her principal to be related, she waved her arm, and let Natsu continue as he laughed good-naturedly, his laughter chiming out melodiously.

"Loki and Aries were left in an orphanage when they were really young. Although they were really cute, no one came by to adopt anyone, because the orphanage manager, who also managed the children, used to be horrible with people, usually scaring them off even if they had wanted to adopt someone. Not only that, she had also abused the children in the orphanage, and it was only a rumour back then, so the police didn't want to get involved in something that had no solid proof. Loki and Aries were best friends back then, so to get back at her, Loki had decided to run away from the orphanage with Aries. After that, children had also started to run away by themselves, and the orphanage closed down because there were practically no children left inside. So now, both of them get by, as they live together and Loki gets money for them as he works as a model." Natsu huffed out in one going, only stopping at the end to take in a huge breath of air.

Giggling light heartedly at Natsu's reaction, she watched as he breathed in again and continued.

"Cana's father is Gildarts our teacher. Although, before he became a teacher, his job used to take him all around the world. So, Cana had rarely seen Gildarts, and when her mother died, she was left with only Gildart's name and no one else. She had taken a few jobs at bars and now she's addicted to alcohol, but after that, when Gildarts came back to Magnolia, she found Cana and decided to quit his job and join Magnolia High so he can be close to her. And I guess that's all of us." Natsu finished.

"At least, one of you has a happy ending," Lucy smiled.

"Happy ending? One of us? Lucy, all of us haven't even reached the ending yet! How could you say that!" Natsu laughed as though it was totally natural to think it.

Puffing out her cheeks, Lucy sighed as she heard the bell ring, startling Natsu and her. Scratching her cheek awkwardly, she stood abruptly and dusted herself, trying to cover her blush at her behavior with Natsu just now and their proximity.

"L-Let's get to lunch now shall we?" Lucy asked, opening the door that led to the classrooms.

Nodding wordlessly, Natsu held the door open for Lucy and let her walk through before going himself. They quickly rushed down the stairs past the onslaught of students that were shoving their way through the crowd to try and get into the canteen. Chuckling lightly to himself, Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand, much to her protest and weaved effortlessly through the crowd, and had even managed to convince Lucy to crawl to get through a thick throng of students that had crowded in front of the entrance.

Gasping, as she stood up, narrowly avoiding someone who almost stepped on her she glared at Natsu who simply wiggled his way through a group of students, and pulled her to a large table that occupied a corner at the back of the canteen.

Gesturing for her to follow, Natsu dragged her to the table and sat down at the edge while the group of students that had seated themselves there, murmur a low greeting to the pink-haired idiot. Waving energetically, at the rest of them, Natsu scooted a little to his side, giving Lucy a little space to sit, as Gray silently glared at him.

Shooting an apologetic smile at Gray, Lucy sat herself down, only to meet the stern gaze of Erza who just silently watched Natsu and her intensely. Squirming uncomfortably in her seat, Lucy flashed a pleading glance at Natsu to help her out, but Natsu already had one leg out of the bench, and had looked ready to get up.

Erza however just continued to stare wordlessly, before finally opening her mouth, her eyes burning with something that looked vaguely like anger.

Gulping heavily, Lucy slid one leg out of the bench, ready to make a quick getaway, in case the intense stare-off turned into something more.

"I'm sorry," Erza muttered out, her face softening to a guilty expression.

Jumping back astonished, Lucy slid back into the bench, all signs of her skepticism evaporating along with Erza's stern gaze.

Lucy breathed deeply, her face flushing a light red as she got prepared to say something, when Erza continued, "Mr Clive did say that you had just moved to Magnolia. I'm sorry on the behalf of my friends and class for teasing you if it had made you feel uncomfortable at all. Please punish me as you see fit."

Stunned, Lucy continued to stare, her mouth slightly agape, before she jumped back as Erza stood up and bowed lowly, her hair brushing the contents of the cute lunch box that she had been eating out of. Stuttering out a reply, she hurriedly urged Erza that she need not be punished as students around the area started to stare at the group.

Smiling thankfully, Erza stood up again, but instead of sitting down, she motioned for Lucy to come forward and quickly introduced the group that she was sitting with.

"I'm sure you know, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Loki, Aries, Levy and Mira, as they're all in your class, and some of them are in the student council," Erza started, pointing at each individual while she recited their names, "From the list earlier, that is Cana. She's an alcoholic, but a really great friend, when she's sober enough to try."

Erza gestured at a brunette that sat at the end of the table, taking huge swigs from a large canteen as she waved cheerfully at Lucy when she noticed her gaze. Cana had unbuttoned the first few buttons on her shirt, revealing a large amount of cleavage and had tied the ends of her uniform into a knot, revealing her belly button.

Scrunching her nose at Cana's attire, Lucy continued as she shifted her gaze to a girl with short white hair that was cropped neatly and an oversized teen, with spiky hair, as Erza introduced them to be Lisanna and Elfman respectively and had also mentioned that they were siblings to Mirajane.

Frowning as she tried to make the connection between Elfman and Mirajane, Lucy shrugged it off, having known that Laxus had somehow been related to Makarov.

"Over there is Juvia, who's in the national swim team and had gotten silver for our school last year," Erza continued, lightly pointing at a girl who had wavy blue hair that curled neatly at the end, stopping before her shoulders.

Lucy watched Juvia just continued staring at Gray across the table, who had lost his shirt, and paid no heed to her surroundings. Tearing her gaze away from the awkward sight, she looked as Erza pointed to a boy with shocking blue hair and had an intricate red tattoo that ran from his eye to his chin.

Shrinking back, under the stern gaze of the man, she squeaked a hello, as Erza quickly introduced him as Jellal, trying to play off her blush by rambling on about their childhood to Lucy.

Quickly losing interest in the topic, Lucy peeked at the canteen, as the crowd had mostly thinned. Skimming through the heads of the people, she smiled inwardly to herself as she heard the loud buzz of chatter that echoed around the canteen.

But something seemed off.

Squinting to try and scrutinize what had seemed so weird to her. The canteen was just like any other, with students milling around and buzzing with chatter, but they had almost seemed… detached. The students had mostly stayed within their own groups, and had ignored the rest of the population around them.

As true as it was, for people in different classes, and even different levels to interact was highly unlikely, the way they had conducted themselves had seemed almost forced. Lucy shifted her gaze slightly, as she watched a burly guy, rush towards the exit, his huge blocking almost the whole door. Although, while rushing, he had accidentally bumped into another girl, nearly knocking over her tray and all its contents.

Expecting for a fight to break out, Lucy braced herself for the fighting to commence, but she watched as the girl steadied her tray, regain her balance and continue walking, not even a shade of emotion passing in between her expression.

Lucy shivered as she stared in the eyes of the girl.

Lifeless.

For a second, she watched as the girl's eyes lighted with anger, but it quickly dulled out, by an pain, one that she knew all too well. Lucy had known that majority of Natsu's friends had had miserable experiences in their pasts, but for everyone to have experienced something like that?

Impossible.

Especially, if they were all gathered under one roof. What were the chances? Lucy scanned the crowd of students again, and felt the same conclusion rise up to her again. Despite the atmosphere seeming cheerful and energetic, the vibe had felt forced, and even fake.

Scratching the side of her head, she leaned in closer to Loki, who sat a few seats away from her.

"Hey Loki, may I ask you a question?" Lucy asked, her eyes still trained on the crowd of students.

"Shoot away."

"Why does everyone seem so detached in the canteen, even though it's so full of life. It's as though that they aren't really friends," Lucy asked, letting the words flow on their own as she watched Loki's reaction.

Lucy saw Loki immediately tense up, his eyes behind his shades narrowing slightly, and even Natsu who had leaned in to listen in on the conversation, had tensed his shoulders, and let loose a low growl.

Looking at the girl who had nearly dropped her tray, she wondered back to what could have caused her reaction. The guy couldn't have been a bully. Even for a guy his size, she was pretty sure, that with a principal like Makarov, bullying wouldn't have been a major problem, but then again, Magnolia High, was known for it's delinquency.

Of course, there were certain holes in the whole issue. Being in a school, packed with so called delinquents, no crimes were actually reported in her short stay in the school, and given it's bad reputation, she was sure something was bound to have happened already. In fact, the people there were also extremely nice, terrifyingly so, for a school as infamous as this one.

The hallways were rather neat, no fights had broken out at all, and the only thing that had come close to delinquency at all in her stay, was her skipping classes. Other than that, there were no major incidents.

So why was Magnolia High School dubbed a delinquent school?

Frowning as she continued delving deeper into the issue, she searched around her mind, playing around with the logic of the situation when she remembered something that a local had told her once.

"Hey Loki," Lucy asked, giving him a few moments to regain his composure, "You know our school's reputation for delinquency?"

Loki paused unnaturally, and carefully answered, "Yes, why do you ask?"

"Does it have something to do with the incident five years ago? And Sabertooth Academy that Mr Makarov had mentioned in the morning?" Lucy asked, finally noticing that the area around her had gone deathly quiet.

Feeling the mood turn sour immediately, Lucy shrunk back at the sudden change, and looked around her, finally realizing that the earlier buzz had died down into a low rumble as she felt the stare of the whole canteen weigh down on her.

"Let's go somewhere else," Lucy heard Natsu mutter, as she felt his strong grip pull her forward.

Stumbling after his running figure, Lucy hurried after Natsu as they rushed out of the canteen and burst into the hallways, weaving through the small stream of students that flowed in the hallways. Exhaling out, Lucy sighed worriedly as she turned a left, the low murmur of chatter hummed throughout the hall.

Climbing up the stairs, Natsu pulled her into the classroom and sat back down onto his chair wordlessly, leaving a stunned Lucy gaping at him, waiting for an answer as to why he dragged her there.

Gently nudging his arm, Lucy urged for Natsu to say something as moments awkwardly pass, leaving a somewhat distasteful feeling in the air, especially with the weird situation just now. Hissing lowly, as he didn't bother responding even though he had dragged her out of the canteen on such short notice and without even telling her why.

To a certain extent, she was grateful to him for dragging her out of that situation, but he should have at least enough courtesy to tell her the truth behind the whole thing.

Lucy scowled at Natsu's back, her curiousity wearing out her thinning patience, before growling, "Natsu Dragneel, if you don't tell me what's happening, I'll-."

"Lucy I've been thinking," Natsu cut in, tilting his chair slightly so that half of his face that was hidden by his bangs peeked out at her, "Let's start a club."

Lucy frowned, unsure of where Natsu had gotten the idea of forming a club out of, but pressed on, her curiousity of the situation shredding her mind.

Lucy gathered her emotions and steeled herself against Natsu's possible reactions, taking in to consideration the canteen's reaction to her statement and opened her mouth, the words rising to the tip of her tongue.

"It started five years ago."

Lucy quickly shut her mouth and sat on the chair behind his.

"Magnolia High had been a great school, with nice students, and we did well in many competitions we entered. Of course now going around, no one would tell you that," Natsu began, his shoulders tensing up and his grip tightening on the side of his table as memories slipped in and out of his mind.

Lucy frowned worriedly at his reaction, not wanting Natsu to push himself too much if he found talking about it too difficult.

Feeling the need to stop him rise in her gut, Lucy opened her mouth slightly, trying to form her words properly as guilt lightly jabbed at her as she herself hadn't told Natsu about her own past.

However Natsu continued, cutting off Lucy's train of thought, "Magnolia High School usually holds a cultural festival at the end of the year for locals and other school to come and interact. Of course, however, there was a group of people who had come to just ruin it all."

Lucy gulped silently, the weight of the situation slowly dawning on her, "Sabertooth Academy?"

Natsu simply nodded, his body tensing up considerably as Lucy asked, before continuing, "We had beaten them in all our competitions we had entered. Be it swimming, rugby, football, both of our schools have a long rivalry when it comes to sports and academics, but we had always come out on top, and even so, we had managed to maintain a healthy rivalry."

Natsu paused.

Loosening his body up as he leaned on the back to legs of his chair, he went forward with his story, "Until of course, a few years before the… incident. Sabertooth had changed to a new principal, Jiemma, who took our rivalry more seriously than anyone had. Rumours had started to float by after a while, that students had to sacrifice lesson time to go for practice."

Lucy gulped as her father screaming his expectations of her flashed across her mind, and she winced as her impression of a hulking man with a cold expression flashed across her eyes.

"Eventually it got really serious, when someone from our swim team caught wind of Jiemma considering using drugs just to win against us," Natsu rambled, his tone flat and devoid of emotion, while Lucy gagged on her own saliva at the notion of a _principal_ forcing drugs on his own students, "So, the person had reported to the police about the rumour, and they had investigated the matter. However, there was no real evidence behind the claim, and the matter was closed, but the police had informed Jiemma that they'd be keeping a close eye on his school."

Lucy felt her stomach flip uncomfortably, the story, despite not being that dark and had no deaths or anything of the sort, had left her feeling rather sick at how disgusting human nature could be.

Feeling a small part of her brain cheer on the notion, Lucy nodded silently to herself. Friends, teachers, and even her own parent had used her own naivety against her, and it had showed her how disgusting humans could really be.

Nodding silently at the notion, Lucy listened as Natsu continued the story, "Jiemma of course, had been furious when he heard Magnolia High School were the ones that did that to him. So, five years ago, on our cultural festival, he had his students come and trash it. There were huge fights that broke out, and it even leaked to outside the school, involving innocent people as they were also at the festival. Since we also have a middle school section, they were also caught up in the huge fiasco. However, when the police had arrived, they had somehow managed to convince them that we were the cause of the fights, even if most of us were hurt, while the Sabertooth students were unharmed. The bystanders, who were involved in the fight, hadn't dared to speak up then, as they were too afraid. Sabertooth could have come after any one of them if they had ratted them out."

Lucy let loose a small growl; a burning pool of indignation and hatred sizzled at the bottom of her stomach, screaming at her to find an outlet to release her anger.

Sure, people were afraid of what others could do to them, but that was no reason to not to have to stand up for what was right. Lucy on her part, would never have stood up for a friend if she had any, much less a stranger, but she would have at least had the common decency to have stood up for what was right.

Grinding her teeth as she felt her anger and spite only intensify the more she thought about it, she tried focusing on Natsu's story as he continued, "So, that's how we got our reputation as a delinquent school. Even now, all those who know the full story don't dare speak up, but I don't blame them, really. But as a school, we were really close until then. Even I who wasn't even in the school yet, could tell that the students at the time were closely knit like family. However, after the incident, the students started dividing themselves, as each of them had their own idea of what to do afterwards."

Lucy felt her anger subside slightly as Natsu rambled on, the weight of a school's pain that they had to bear for the past few years, weighing down heavily her mind. Sighing softly to herself, Lucy rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly, as the trouble that the whole school had to endure for so long, making her own troubles seem trivial.

"Some of the students had wanted to take revenge and beat up Sabertooth like they did to us, but that would make our image look worse. Some students just wanted to leave it alone, and focus on rebuilding the school's image, but that seemed cowardly and unsightly after that huge trashing. Others, had just wanted to continue club activities, some had moved out of school, and eventually, the close knit family that had once been Magnolia High, had split apart into their own little groups."

Lucy shifted slightly as she watched Natsu's expression.

She watched as his features softened with melancholy and his brows crease with worry. Although she had not really known him long, she could tell him that it had affected him more than he had showed, especially since Lucy had decided that Natsu was never someone to show his soft side so easily.

"Even my friends kind of drifted apart," she heard Natsu whisper, his voice barely reaching her, and it had tugged at her heart, hearing someone who usually seemed so cheerful, be reduced to such a miserable state.

Feeling a lump form in her throat as she felt her sympathy override her thoughts against making friends. As much as Lucy had no right to say anything about his choice of friends, the way that he had described and talked about his friends had made her believe that he held them dearly.

Sniffing as she felt a few tears well at the corner of her eyes, Lucy calmly reached out to try and comfort him.

Natsu smiled.

"But that's all in the past, I don't really care any more," Natsu laughed, his expression lighting up, making Lucy jump back in surprise, all traces of her sympathy evaporating into frustration.

"Natsu!" Lucy groaned as she wondered how he could change moods so easily.

"Wait! Lucy!" Natsu shouted as she tried to storm out of the class, "This is where the idea of a club comes in!"

Lucy stopped momentarily, the idea of a club somehow appealing to her even if her intentions not to interact with anyone had clashed with it. Hesitantly, she stopped by the doorway and leaned on the table nearest to it, waving her arm as a signal for him to continue talking.

"My friends also split up because of this to tell the truth. When we heard of it, we had wanted to do our own thing with Sabertooth. I, Gray, Gajeel and Elfman had wanted to beat them up for it. Erza and Jellal wanted to resolve it peacefully. Juvia just wanted to beat them at sports," Natsu started, no trace of sadness showing on his face, "So we kind of grew further apart because of it."

Lucy nodded understandingly and beckoned for Natsu to continue as to how forming a club could fit into everything.

"We'll form a club to bring everything back to the way it was. We'll revive the cultural festival. We'll bring everyone closer like it used to be," Natsu yelled gleefully.

Lucy couldn't help but smile as his euphoria rubbed off on her, making laughter bubble lightly in her throat as Natsu got up and danced stupidly around her.

"W-who would you want to join our club then? How will we advertise our club?" Lucy gasped, struggling to hold her laughter, as she Natsu tried doing a handstand.

Natsu grinned even wider, his smile stretching crazily, as he opened his mouth to start, when she heard the shrill ring of the bell pierce the peaceful atmosphere that had settled neatly around them.

Jumping into her seat, as students started to rush into the class, she leaned forward as Natsu took his seat in front of her, trying to prolong the last bit of their conversation just to hear his answer, when he turned around and put a small note on her table.

Quickly greeting the teacher who had introduced himself as Mr Conbolt, Lucy sat down and opened the letter, the adrenaline of doing something so daring and audacious rushing through her veins as the writer side of her overrode all rational thought of not getting closer to anyone, as there was no doubt that she would have to if she were to be part of a club.

Wild escapades, running after targets, breaking out into fights. Everything came crashing to her in a huge wave of ideas as her mind spun stories of possibilities of trying to achieve something so far away. Sure they were students, but in a school like Magnolia High, and with people from Sabertooth academy to watch out for, nothing that Lucy had thought of seemed so unrealistic, only pumping more excitement into her blood.

Glancing at the note that Natsu had placed on her desk, Lucy smiled wildly to herself as she glanced once more around her and at the teacher and swiftly opened the note, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

_Lucy, I want to reunite this school, so my friends and I can hang out like we used to, of course you can join in if you want._

_Everyone needs to join._

_No one is left out, as we're in this school together. However, if we want to advertise our club, there's going to be the fair this week that all clubs, and we can do that there. I've already told Gramps about this idea and he was super ecstatic about it, but he told me to keep it a secret, so you can't tell anyone either okay?_

_Now the only problem is, that we don't have enough manpower to finish setting up a proper booth and get our materials for the fair, so I have another idea to try and advertise our club._

_It's a secret._

_You'll just have to wait until this Friday okay? In the meantime, try and make a flier or something in case my plan fails, so we can hand it out later._

_Thanks,_  
_Natsu_

Scowling as she felt the adrenaline tone down considerably, Lucy folded up the letter and stashed it into her pocket, grumpily cursing Natsu, but still maintained her smile as the euphoria still pounded freshly in her head.

* * *

The rest of the days leading up to the 'Club Fair' as Lucy had dubbed it, had been painfully slow. The suspense from Natsu leaving her hanging in the letter had been tearing at the very core of her soul, leaving a gaping hole that she couldn't take her mind off.

Lucy had tried to make the fliers as Natsu had asked first, but she had easily complete it by using the computer lab and had printed it in the book shop in her school, but that had only taken on afternoon.

The word of her asking about Sabertooth Academy had spread throughout the school, but it had quickly dissipated once Erza had stepped onto the scene and scolded whoever had spread the word around. Afterwards, they had tried inviting her out with them for the weekend as an apology, but she had apologized and turned down the offer, feeling that despite how close they claimed she seemed to Natsu, she didn't really want to get make friends.

At least not yet.

However, with a great amount of discipline, she had somehow scraped through the week and silently cheered as the last day of the week arrived. Lucy trudged grudgingly up to the school, her eyes sagging with lack of sleep at Natsu's statement, and that he had refused to tell her now matter how many times she had asked.

Her writer's imagination hadn't really helped either, with almost sleepless nights as dreams of what he could have planned on doing had faded in and out of her dreams, not really helping her get enough sleep for school.

Lucy sighed as she flopped down on her seat, just before the bell signaling the beginning of school assembly that took place every morning outside in the courtyard.

Each class had to line up in their respective allocated spots, and had to stand and sing their national anthem and school song every morning. Hastily smoothing out her uniform, she watched as seniors rushed through the hallways, desperately trying to finish up their booths.

Checking her bag for the fliers that she had printed, Lucy zipped it up once more and filed out the classroom, along with the rest of her classmates. Sighing lazily as the first years filed out into the courtyard, while the seniors had stayed at their respective booths in certain classes or in different facilities.

Yawning, she scanned the crowd of heads in an attempt to find the familiar shade of pink that she had grown to hate. Frowning to herself, as she couldn't spot the obvious shade of pink that stood out among the rest, she smiled crazily and wondered what Natsu could have been up to.

Pushing away the thoughts, Lucy smiled to herself and stood rigidly as the national anthem slowly started playing. Lazily mouthing the words along with the tune, Lucy let her eyes drift around again, only to see a flash of salmon on the top of the roof as the school song ended.

Trying to hide her grin as Laxus walked onto the podium at the front and cleared his throat, ready to give a briefing to the breakdown of the event, she heard a shout from the roof of the school building.

Flashing an electric smile, she felt adrenaline pump through her again and snapped her head upwards to look at the source of the noise, even though she knew who had already caused it.

"Hey first years! I'm Natsu Dragneel, self-appointed leader of a new club that I have just formed. Our aim for this club is to unite Magnolia High School once again! Our booth will be set up at 1-B classroom, for any more enquiries, ask me or Lucy Heartphillia from class 1-B. Thank you!" she heard Natsu scream wildly.

Despite the spot that Natsu had put her in, Lucy waved kindly the students who had turned around to look at her, and flashed a warm smile at them.

"Do come and visit," Lucy laughed.

Laughing on top as well, Natsu hurriedly jumped off the railing, earning a wave of gasps from the small crowd of first years, but quickly grabbed the edge of the building and slid into an open window as the door to the roof burst open, revealing a few teachers.

Smiling wildly, as a mad glint flashed across her eyes, Lucy smiled.

She had no intention of making friends, still. She wasn't ready, but she sure was as ready as hell for a good old adventure. With no friends and no family to fall back on, what was there to lose in her life?

Laughing, as Lucy felt a grin naturally sprout on her face, adrenaline fueling her veins after days of boredom and being kept in the dark about a daring plan that Natsu wanted be put in action.

This was going to be fun.

**That's it for this chapter. Again THANK YOU, for reading this, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a review.**

**School's started again for me, but I'll still be updating weekly, if not just one or two days either early or late. DO look forward to more chapters. I know that the others haven't really made a proper appearance yet, but I'll be slipping in a few chapters that feature them, and maybe even have them get together with someone~**

**Until then, THANK YOU, just really, thank you for those who have reviewed previously, or even just read this.**

**-Fluff Master**


	4. The Legion Of Hell Hath Arrived

**Hello guys, and thank you for clicking on this little story of mine! I know I haven't been updating this story as regularly as I had wanted to, and I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE. But with most of my big projects over, and exams are almost finished, I'm practically free from now until some time later.**

**I'm sorry again to those who were looking forward to an update, and I know this chapter is a tad shorter than the other ones, but here it is anyway. Now onto the story...**

Lucy wasn't having fun.

That was of course to say the least. Having waited a whole week just to be able to experience something wild and fantastic, this was a total letdown. After Natsu's stupid stunt, she had immediately been seized by a few teachers and had been promptly escorted to the principal's office and dumped her there before leaving the room.

Sighing tensely as she sat in front of the desk, looking for any signs of the tiny man she had come to know as her principal. Finding no sight of the small man, Lucy patiently swept her gaze across the sparsely decorated room, only to see small bookshelves stocked with files and a few books.

A potted plant was neatly placed at the corner of the room, next to a small figurine of the principal that sat quaintly, leaning slightly on the plant. Reaching forward to examine more closely, Lucy scrunched her eyes as she saw the doll twitch slightly.

Lucy squatted down and glanced at the door, making sure that no else was near, and tried to prod the figure, until it opened one eye and stuck it's tongue out at her.

Squeaking, Lucy jumped back and banged her head on the edge of the principal's table, which elicited a painful groan from the blonde. Nodding as she heard Makarov utter a soft 'sorry', Lucy propped herself up one of the chairs across Makarov, lightly rubbing at the spot that had hit the table.

Turning slightly as she heard the door creak open, she huffed out lightly as the dull pain throbbed at the back of her head, Lucy's gaze followed the tuft of pink hair that sauntered casually into the room and sat itself down onto the other seat across Makarov.

Shifting her gaze between both Natsu and Makarov, Lucy gulped down nervously as she watched both of them silently glare at each other, turning the atmosphere uncomfortably tense. Squirming slightly, Lucy waited for something to happen, and wasn't surprised as Makarov suddenly reached out for a stapler on his desk and hurled it at Natsu, hitting him squarely in between in his eyes.

Lucy fidgeted nervously as she watched Makarov finger a paperweight in his hands while Natsu just whined, cupping his face in his hands.

Sighing exasperatedly, Makarov tossed the paperweight back onto his table, much to Lucy's relief, and began, "You idiot brat. I know I gave you the green light for this project you had in mind. I want to achieve the same goal you have. I've been in this school longer than you have, and I've seen what the incident has done to this school. But really? Shouting during assembly? At least use your brain Natsu."

Lucy quickly eyed Natsu as he massaged the spot where the stapler had hit before he replied, "Well duh, how else would I get their attention? If I were to hand out fliers like most of the other clubs are doing, would anyone actually come to visit our booth?"

Lucy blinked slowly and shouted indignantly, "Hey! I worked hard on those fliers!"

Smiling sheepishly, Natsu waved off her comment and turned his attention back to Makarov who seemed stunned that someone like Natsu could have given such a logical answer.

Stumbling for an answer, Makarov tried to reply, but Natsu quickly stepped in and nonchalantly said, "Come on gramps. We've been here for a while now. There's no one manning our booth, the event is starting already."

Lucy watched cautiously as a look of annoyance flicked across Makarov's face and he eyed the paperweight temptingly, but quickly shifted his gaze back to the two in front of him.

Several tense moments passed, before he sighed again, and lazily waved his arms, dismissing the two of them from his presence. Grinning widely, Natsu immediately bounded out of the room, shouting behind him for Lucy to hurry up, while Lucy hurriedly bowed as thanks and rushed tried to rush out of the room.

"Wait, Ms Heartphillia," she heard Makarov call behind her.

Cringing as the image of the paperweight flashed across her mind, Lucy absentmindedly rubbed at the back of her head, and turned to face Makarov who was grinning slightly.

"I'm sorry he dragged you into this mess of his, but it's nice to see that you're able to put up with his stupidity. But despite his tough exterior, he's a real softie on the inside, so please do take care of him," Makarov chuckled, a hint of amusement playing along the edges of his features.

Laughing slightly to herself, Lucy quickly waved at the tiny man in response and rushed out the door to catch up with Natsu. Making a left as soon as she reentered the corridor, Lucy came face to face with her pinkette friend and sighed exasperatedly as he immediately grabbed her arm and charged into the crowd of students that had formed in the hallways.

Expertly weaving through the throng of students, they had quickly reached the level with the first year classrooms, and Lucy frowned as the crowd had greatly thinned, leaving only a few people streaming in through the hallways.

Since the event had mainly been put together by the various clubs whose members were both second years and first years, all of their classes had been used to set up their booths and even some of the outdoor facilities were being used, leaving only the first year classrooms empty.

However, especially after Natsu's big stunt, she had at least expected a small crowd to have at least come and see what the whole thing was about, but glancing around the hallway, she only found several upperclassmen who were just strolling around for a break.

No freshmen.

Sighing as she felt Natsu's grip loosen slightly, Lucy followed him and turned the final corner that led to their classroom, only to see a tuft of wavy blue hair bound in her direction.

Flinching slightly as Levy came forward to hug her, Lucy laughed awkwardly, the idea of friends and people getting too close to her leaving a somewhat sick feeling churning in her gut. Reluctantly pushing it away, Lucy forced a smile and greeted Levy and watched as Erza sauntered behind her and waved casually.

"Hey guys! Are you here to-," Natsu cheerfully began, trying to beckon the two girls into the classroom, when Erza slammed her knee into Natsu's groin, leaving him crumpled on the ground.

"That's for getting Lucy involved in all of this," Erza snarled at Natsu's cowering figure, before turning back to both Lucy and Levy and smiling sweetly.

Feeling a shiver crawl its way up her spine, Lucy simply smiled back at Erza and kindly asked what the both of them were here for.

Levy quickly hopped off Lucy and cheerfully replied, "Well, the stunt that the both of you pulled… Seemed kind of interesting, so we decided to come and take a look."

Smiling good-naturedly, Erza continued, "That's right. We did plan on joining different clubs that we had in mind, but it seemed like you were having fun the whole week leading up to this. So we decided to come here and join to make you feel more comfortable."

Feeling her heart warm at the sentiment, Lucy felt her grin widen and she beckoned her two friends to enter the classroom to chat together more, leaving Natsu hobbling after them into the classroom.

"So Lucy, seems like you're having fun. What does your club do anyway? I know Natsu shouted what you wanted to do with the club, but what are you gonna do when people finally join?" Erza asked, taking a seat at her usual place.

Frowning as Lucy thought about it, she slowly opened her mouth and shut her mouth, finding no answer she could think of satisfying the question. Lucy groaned inwardly and plopped herself onto her seat and pondered her state of mind throughout the week.

First she had been swept up by Natsu and his friends, giving her no time to react to the sudden influx of people that had introduced themselves into her life. Secondly, her mind had bailed on her and had forced her to go along with Natsu's crazy plan, and had not thought about what would have followed afterwards.

Scratching her head apologetically at Erza and Levy who skeptically looked between Natsu and her, Lucy sighed and glanced pleadingly at Natsu, hoping that he had an answer.

"It's fine. You don't need to do anything in this club," Natsu piped up, making all three girls jump back in surprise before he continued, "This is a club to get people to bond together. Won't that only be a pain if I force you to sit here and mingle?"

Gaping slightly, Erza stared dumbfounded at Natsu while Levy just scratched her head, trying to absorb the information.

"Heck, you can even go to other clubs while still have joined this one! This club is to bring us all together, so just drop in whenever you feel like it. When you come in, do whatever you want, talk to whoever you want, it's a place for everyone to chill and get together," Natsu finished.

Erza looked at Lucy then shifted her gaze to look skeptically at Levy, unsure of how to respond to Natsu's idea, but Levy quickly cut in and asked, "So basically it's like school?"

"Exactly," Natsu quickly answered, a smile dominating most of his face, before it slowly turned into a frown and Natsu plopped himself down onto the chair nearest to him.

Giggling lightly, Erza and Levy slowly got up from their seats and thanked both of them, and left after a quick goodbye, saying they wanted to go check out the other clubs they had in mind, before ushering themselves out the door. Waving lamely at the two of them, Lucy groaned silently and slouched tiredly, resting her head on her arm as she felt fatigue slowly wash itself over her mind.

Lazily shooting a glance at Natsu, he simply replied with a shrug and leaned back onto the chair and let loose a heavy sigh which made Lucy giggle. Both of them let loose another sigh and slowly glanced around the empty classroom, each of them willing for anyone to come and pop through the door and apply for their club.

Playfully twirling a loose strand of hair in between her fingers, Lucy's gaze wandered over to Natsu, only to catch him staring at her fondly. Blushing slightly, Lucy quickly turned away, her face burning a darker red as she could fell Natsu still staring at her.

Shifting her mind to other concerns she had, Lucy wondered if Natsu's idea of a club would ever take off. Sure, the idea of having people from the same school come together and reuniting after years of separation had been idealistic, and to be honest, a small part of Lucy had reached out to the idea, welcoming it and wondering if the group would have accepted her if she asked to join.

Being lonely would be painful for anyone, this Lucy knew especially well. She guessed that a sympathetic part had reached out to the school and their situation, and had decided to save them from a fate like hers. Leaning back onto her chair, she sighed and glanced around the empty classroom, wondering how the club would turn out like.

Closing her eyes, she imagined the classroom around her, bustling with people with radiant smiles. The room bursting with conversation and laughter, casting the room into a light and airy atmosphere, and Lucy couldn't help but imagine herself with a bunch of friends chatting together at her table.

Smiling contentedly at the daydream, Lucy felt her heart lighten immediately and she silently hummed to herself, slowly cracking one eye open to glance around the empty classroom once more.

Ignoring the dreadful feeling that churned at the back of her mind, Lucy cheerfully whispered to herself, "It might take a bit of work, but I'm sure we'll get there."

Getting up and stretching, Lucy smiled and grabbed her bag, telling Natsu that she might as well hand out the fliers that she had printed to get people to come in. Lazily giving his consent, he waved an arm, signaling that Lucy was free to do whatever she wanted.

Skipping over to the door, Lucy waved one last time at Natsu, before opening the door quickly, only to come face to face with Gray Fullbuster.

With only his pants on.

Stumbling back, Lucy shielded her eyes and dropped her bag, screaming at Gray to find his shirt, while Natsu just barked with laughter, teasing Lucy to get used to it.

A few minutes passed, before Gray returned, this time full clothed, and smoothly played off the incident before asking, "So Natsu, nice… club you got here. What are you even gonna do in this club anyway?"

Picking herself up, Lucy waved over to Natsu and exited the classroom, leaving the two friends to themselves while she walked down the hallway to the courtyard where most of the students were gathered. Making another left, she watched as the football team had passed menacingly through the hallways, taking up most of the space.

Backtracking and turning to the right, Lucy continued walking until she came to the main entrance of the school, where there was a whole procession of club members that lined the hallway, handing out fliers and advertising their clubs to the first years that passed through the hall.

Feeling her spirit waver, Lucy inched towards the end of the procession and grabbed a handful of fliers from her bag and tried passing one to the nearest person, only to have him knock everything in her hand over, spilling her fliers onto the floor.

Suppressing the lump in her throat as she felt tears well up in her eyes, Lucy stooped down to pick up her fliers, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and shame boil under her skin. Sniffing slightly as she gathered a pile, she quickly saw a hand extend out and handed her a flier that had flown further away.

Silently thanking the person, she stood up and smiled at the person, only to find Mirajane with two other people with white hair standing behind her. Feeling the awkward atmosphere prick at her mind as Mirajane continued to hold the posters out to her, Lucy jumped back in surprise and bowed politely as thanks to her, only to see Mirajane wave her hand to dismiss it.

"Please don't be so formal. I see that your Natsu's new friend, and any friend of his, is a friend of mine," Mirajane sweetly started, "I'm sure that Erza has already introduced you, but these are my siblings, Elfman and Lisanna."

The two Strauss siblings quickly said a quick 'hello', before Mirajane continued, "I see you're having trouble handing out fliers. Need some help? I'm sure the rest of the student council would be glad to help."

Looking worriedly at the eldest Strauss, Lucy tried to object, but Mirajane quickly cut in, "I told you. Any friend of Natsu's is a friend of mine. Besides, I heard what your club was about from Levy already, and I feel it's a great idea! I'd like to sign up too after this!"

Cheerfully snatching a handful of posters, Mirajane quickly divided the stack into three and shooed her siblings away to help hand them out. Winking cutely at Lucy, Mirajane waved her hand at Lucy who stood gaping, still trying to process the turn of events, before she disappeared into the crowd of students.

Scratching her head as she shifted her weight, Lucy turned around and tried to go to a different hallway, in hopes of covering more ground now that more people had decided to help her. Slowly turning around as Lucy tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Mirajane had called her a 'friend', Lucy trudged up the stairs to the second year classrooms.

Huffing out skeptically as she felt her heart jump with each step she took, Lucy hesitantly pushed the feeling down and shifted her concentration onto the task at hand. Tightening her grip on the small stack of papers she had left, she climbed the last few steps and turned to see another bustling hallway.

Timidly clutching the stack of papers, she willed herself forward, occasionally trying to stick out a flyer to random passerby who simply brushed her hand off.

Biting her lip anxiously, Lucy stuttered out a greeting to passerby and tried handing him a flyer, but he simply pushed her away with a 'no thank you' making Lucy recoil and shrink back.

"Stupid me. Why did I even try to go out and hand out flyers to people in the first place. Stupid, stupid," Lucy mumbled, as she hesitated to hand out another flyer.

"Oh if it isn't Lucy," she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

Shifting her gaze slightly, she watched as Cana and Juvia make their way over to her, while waving cheerfully at her. Flashing a shaky smile at the two, she approached them glad that an opportunity for a break had presented itself in the middle of her daunting task.

"Hi guys," Lucy started, obvious discomfort colouring her tone as she shyly tried to converse with her two newfound 'friends'.

Looking worriedly at Lucy, Juvia tried extending a hand in sympathy but Cana simply pushed her aside and slung her arm around Lucy's shoulder, boisterously replying, "Why so scared? I don't bite. Well at least when I'm not drunk."

Worriedly trying to worm her way out of Cana's grip, Lucy was only pushed back as Cana continued, "But that aside. Looks like you need help, and I've been sent here by your very own boyfriend, Natsu to do just that."

Finding her anger flare up at the comment about Natsu and her, Lucy retorted angrily, but still found herself smiling around the cheerful atmosphere that wrapped itself around them.

"Yes, Juvia would be glad to help out if Lucy so wished it," Juvia cheerfully interjected.

Smiling abashedly at Juvia for ignoring her, Lucy stopped halfway and opened her mouth, only to be knocked on the head by Cana as she grabbed the rest of the fliers that she had.

"I know the way she speaks is weird, using third person and all, but that just makes Juvia, Juvia," Cana finished as she split the stack between Juvia and her before shouting, "You can go take a break! You seem like you've had it rough."

Flashing a thumbs up at the receding figures of the two girls, Lucy felt her smile refuse to leave and pushed aside her emotions as memories of her past softly poked at her brain.

Smiling as the two figures disappeared into the huge throng of students that flooded the hallways, Lucy peeked around the corner at a clock that hung from the wall to see how long she had left.

It hadn't even been half an hour since she had started.

* * *

Lucy stalked down the hallway and sighed heavily. For the past hour or so, she had been left to wander and familiarize herself with the school grounds and the rest of the clubs. With her free time, she had roamed around the campus, often getting abducted by various clubs and being dragged off to their booths where they sat her down through a lecture about their club's achievement's and activities.

Though at first she had felt extremely uncomfortable at the closeness the upperclassmen had shown her, she had eventually warmed up to them, finding that although some of them had seem menacingly scary, they had turned out to be kind and warm, even going voluntarily to various booths that had piqued her interest.

Occasionally she had spotted the familiar figure or Erza, Levy or any other one of Natsu's friends, but they had quickly faded into flurry of activity that surrounded the event. Soon enough, the crowd had thinned immensely, leaving only a few first years left casually strolling around while the upperclassmen started packing up their booths as the time given for students to check the booths out was almost up.

Looking at a clock inside a classroom that she passed by, Lucy decided that she should be heading back to Natsu soon, feeling a bit of guilt jab at her for not really helping Natsu and the others help bring others in to the booth.

Turning around to the nearest staircase, Lucy yelped as she nearly bumped into a head of pink hair and jumped back, only to narrowly avoid falling down as Natsu reached forward to stabilize her.

Pushing aside the blush that lightly coloured her cheeks at their proximity, Lucy opened her mouth to apologize at her inactivity before Natsu cut her off and yelled excitedly, "Come on! Where have you been! I've gathered all the members that say they want to join, and I want to introduce to them."

Leaping back down the staircase, Lucy paused, her brain slowly processing the new information, before she felt her heart flutter and bounded down the stairs after him.

True. She didn't exactly help out throughout the event, but she had been looking forward to this day for a while, and she had been one of the two people who had formed the club in the first place, so despite the guilt that poked her in the back of her mind, her excitement overshadowed her guilt, only making her pulse skyrocket with each step she took.

Skidding as she nearly tripped, Lucy regained her composure and ran into the last hallway narrowly avoiding a few sophomores who were struggling to carry a trunk full of trophies.

Casually ignoring their indignant shouts that they threw at her, Lucy halted as she caught sight of Natsu leaning casually against their class door. Casting a smug glance at her direction, Lucy puffed her cheeks up and lightly punched Natsu's shoulder, feeling a snide comment coming.

Hearing him chuckle, Lucy loosened up a bit as anxiety slowly gripped her as the idea of facing the group of people inside seeped into her mind. Feeling her cheeks colour a light pink, Lucy stomped into the classroom, rather face a bunch of strangers than have Natsu see her blushing, for heaven knows for what reason.

Lucy was at a loss for words, which had been happening a lot quite recently.

First, Natsu's weird confession in class. Then his proposal to make a club, and thirdly the huge backstories behind Natsu and his friend's lives, and also the history behind the school's delinquency.

However, not so coincidentally, everything that had happened over the past few days could have been traced back to Natsu, and surprisingly, the reason as to why she was standing in front of the class gaping like a total idiot could have been traced back to none other than her pink haired idiot of a classmate.

Seated in a tiny circle in front of her, were the people that Erza had so nicely introduced her to during lunch a few days earlier, including the student council members that weren't there during lunch.

Suppressing a disappointed sigh, Lucy smiled awkwardly at the crowd as Erza motioned for her to take a seat as she moved a bit to the right creating some space. Smiling thankfully at her, Lucy sighed inwardly.

At least they had gotten some members.

"Welcome everyone to our club! I, as your new and self-appointed president of the club-" Natsu cheerfully began, before Laxus cut him off.

"You're the president? I thought Lucy would have enough common sense not to let you become it. I'm out. Peace," Laxus grunted jokingly as he got up from his chair leaving Natsu pouting and the rest of the group laughing hysterically.

"Anyway, as the club's president, my first order of business is to name this club," Natsu continued, ignoring Cana as she asked loudly why he hadn't already done that.

"From this day forth, we'll be called Natsu's club!"

An awkward silence passed through the group, before everyone unanimously stood up wordlessly and headed for the door.

"Alright! Alright! I'm kidding. Jeez, can't you guys take a joke? What I meant to say, was that you guys come help me think of a name, I can't seem to think of a good one," Natsu desperately stuttered, as he rushed forward to block to exit.

"Natsu, I know I said I'd help out with this club thing, mainly because most of the gang was joining, and I like the idea of you trying to bring everyone together. So as our… president, could you try not to be so stupid," Lisanna sighed.

Smiling sheepishly, he nodded shyly and ushered everyone back to the space in between where they sat back down.

"So the name?" Mirajane started, her mind already drifting onto finding a good name for the rag tag bunch.

Lucy scrunched her nose as she tried to think up of a name that fit the nature of the club but didn't sound too stupid too corny. After a few moments of silence, Lucy sighed in defeat and looked around to find that most of the others looked somewhat lost too.

"Hey, how about Dragons?" Natsu offered cautiously, not wanting any of the others to walk out on him again.

"You're just saying random things that you like. Besides, how does that fit into the club?" Gray countered easily, "Besides, if dragon, then why not fairies?"

"I like the sound of that!" Levy, Cana and Erza shouted together, "Fairies sounds nice."

Lucy watched amusedly as majority of the group turned towards Cana questioningly before she quickly defended, "Hey, I can be girly too."

Chuckling silently, most of the girls murmured in agreement with Gray's idea, although he grumbled in the corner, as though he had never meant for the conversation to take such a turn.

"Uh… Since most of you like the idea, any one can add on to the idea of Faires? Cuz the concept seems really gay," Natsu announced, quickly trailing off as he ended the sentence, only to receive a glare from Erza.

Flinching back, Natsu looked pleadingly at the rest of the boys and then finally at Lucy. Finding that the rest of the guys had no idea on how to counter the girl's argument, Lucy gulped down her fear and tried to speak up.

"U-um. I think that maybe we could change the idea a bit?" Lucy interjected quietly.

Immediately, the faces of the boys lit up like a fire while the girls furrowed their eyebrows in disagreement, but they stayed silent and motioned for Lucy to continue with her proposal.

"Believe me, I think that the idea of Fairies is a great idea in itself," Lucy tried, only to see Gray and Gajeel mouth traitor at her, only to be nudged in the ribs by both Levy and Erza, "But don't you think that we could improve on it a bit more? The word Fairies by itself seems a bit corny don't you think?"

"Seconded," Laxus, Gajeel and Cana shouted, while the rest of the crowd stared dumbfounded at Cana.

"What. As much as I like Fairies, I have to agree with Lucy girl," Cana drawled, taking a deep swig from a flask that she held by her side.

"So what do you suggest?" Juvia asked, her face only carrying genuine curiousity.

Scratching her head, Lucy bit her lip and cursed herself for not seeing that coming. Now that she had the responsibility of putting a name out there, she might as well do it.

This club, was for people to come together, for people to socialize, to basically just have fun. People roaming and chatting around freely with each other, without any spite or distance that separated one person from another.

Something like home.

Smiling nostalgically at the memory of the familiar halls that dominated her old life, Lucy huffed softly and pushed the memory away, not willing to bring up anything that would sour her mood especially on such a happy occasion.

Looking up as the group patiently awaited her answer, Lucy watched as most of the guys were comically trying to mouth suggestions at her, only earning them a punch in the face, or a knee in the gut from Erza.

Holding back her laughter, she glanced at the homely group and she couldn't help but smile as a name immediately popped into her mind.

"Why not Fairy Tail?"

**Well, this is the new chapter, and I'm sorry once again to those who were looking forward to an update, and I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than the rest, especially that long wait. But I promise, I've got some good stuff coming along. *Spoiler* Sabertooth comes in the next chapter *Spoiler*. And that's all I have to say, and until then, do look forward to another update.**

-Fluff Master


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